B5's end.

[Ateth Istarlin]

Did anyone else find it strange that B5 was destroyed after only about 20+ years?
Surely it would have still had a place in the galaxy - trade, tourism, diplomacy, exploration, espionage, etc.
I think I'll have to find a way to keep it running long after 'Sleeping in Light'! :idea:

 

[frobisher]

Not really.

jms rationalised it simply as the fact that the emphasis had shifted away from the Epsilon system with the growth of the Interstellar Alliance. The only reason to visit B5 was to go see B5, and as it had been passed back to Earth Alliance control, they no longer had the budget to run it, but you can't just leave such a station powered down unoccupied as sure as hell someone dodgy would move in (raiders or whatever...).

If it were viable for someone to move in legitimately, then the EA would probably still be operating the base.

It was too big to relocate so demolition was the only viable option after striping reusable systems from it.

 

[Mongoose Gar]

It's also pretty likely that B5 was destroyed because it was a *symbol*. A resurgent xenophobe movement on Earth - the sort of people we see in 'The Deconstruction of Falling Stars, in the +500 years segment - would want Babylon 5 gone. It'd be a lot easier to demonise the Interstellar Alliance as an alien hegemony intent on taking over Earth if you remove the physical reminder that the ISA was founded by Humans, on a Human station.

Babylon 5 was destroyed to make people forget the truth.

 

[R Arceneaux]

In the time line there were 4 other Babs 1 to 4 with # 4 as we found out going backwards in time to fight the previous shadow war.

But what was the cause of the failure of the first 3 babs and why was the construction of bab 5 completed where 1 thru 3 failed? HMMM ?

The writers never fully covered the causes of the destruction of the first attempts.

 

[GregLynch]

The first three were destroyed before completion.

 

[frobisher]

And Babylon 5 was built with some of the components recovered from the destruction of Babylon 3 on the cheap somewhat...

 

[Shadow Queen]

it was a hazzard to navagation .... Something that big yeah right!!!!!!!!!

 

[Vortex]

it was a hazzard to navagation .... Something that big yeah right!!!!!!!!!

But raiders moving into it and dominating the sector would make it a very real hazzard to navigation...

 

[frobisher]

it was a hazzard to navagation .... Something that big yeah right!!!!!!!!!

Really quite easily. Unpowered with no life support etc, it'll eventually drop to the ambient temperature of the surrounding space. That, coupled with no EM emmisions means you'll not be able detect it easily at range except by the likes of radar or whether it occludes a light source, which isn't really that effective...

If you look at the track record for detecting Earth orbit crossing asteroids we generally hear about the near misses after they've passed us by. Now those are hazzardous to navigation and quite a bit bigger than B5...

 

[James McMurray]

frobisher, given that everyone in the universe knows where B5 is, you wouldn't have to detect it, you could just fly there.

What I don't believe is the "too big to move" story. It's space and hyperspace, weight and size don't matter. All you need is to be able to overcome it's inertia. A squadron of Star Furies or prehaps two White Stars should be able to do that.

 

[nitflegal]

frobisher, given that everyone in the universe knows where B5 is, you wouldn't have to detect it, you could just fly there.

What I don't believe is the "too big to move" story. It's space and hyperspace, weight and size don't matter. All you need is to be able to overcome it's inertia. A squadron of Star Furies or prehaps two White Stars should be able to do that.

Sure, but we've also seen in the show that very small position changes are a big deal, with much groaning of the hull and dramatic music. Since they considered it worthwhile to build it in place initially instead of transporting it the station's structure probably isn't designed for towing about. Be rather embarrassing if the tow cables just tore loose chunks of the hull or warped the support structure.

Matt

 

[CharlieMonster]

But what was the cause of the failure of the first 3 babs and why was the construction of bab 5 completed where 1 thru 3 failed? HMMM ?

At the end of "In the beginning" Molari implies they were destroyed by sabotage. Presumably at the behest of the Shadows or their allies.

And Babylon 5 was built with some of the components recovered from the destruction of Babylon 3 on the cheap somewhat...

Why didn't the recovered items from B3 go into building B4, before it was half-inched?

 

[Mongoose Gar]

You might be able to move the station, but bringing it into hyperspace? Not a chance. It'd break up in the jump vortex.

The whole navigation hazard is nonsense, though. Just stick a big flashing 'warning! abandoned station here!' light on top.

 

[Vortex]

Why didn't the recovered items from B3 go into building B4, before it was half-inched?

Because budget wasn't too much of an issue at the time of B4. It was a big one when they got to B5.

 

[James McMurray]

You might be able to move the station, but bringing it into hyperspace? Not a chance. It'd break up in the jump vortex.

My admittedly fallible memory doesn't remember anything like major hull stress being mentioned inthe series. It's been a long time though.

I don't remember if they scavenged it or not though. If they did, moving it wouldn't matter, as they could just rebuild it.

 

[Hellhawk]

There is a dialogue in the original script for War Without End that states that B1 to B3 were destroyed by the Shadows. That bit of information never made it onto screen, though, and has not been available until the relaese of script book 7.

AOG's B5 RPG has B1 through 3 destroyed by Homeguard.

Rainer

 

[PhoenixAndy]

You might be able to move the station, but bringing it into hyperspace? Not a chance. It'd break up in the jump vortex.

My admittedly fallible memory doesn't remember anything like major hull stress being mentioned inthe series. It's been a long time though.

Well The Gathering indicates that even the small amount of inertia generated by the comparatively small explosion at the end put serious stress on the structure.

Plus, to be honest, I'm not convinced B5 could fit in the jump gate.

 

[frobisher]

frobisher, given that everyone in the universe knows where B5 is, you wouldn't have to detect it, you could just fly there.

No, you know which planet it's orbiting, not the same thing. Without powered orbital correction (which B5 has...) you'll not necessarly be able to predict accurately the orbit of the station as it decays (it will...) towards Epsilon 3.

What I don't believe is the "too big to move" story. It's space and hyperspace, weight and size don't matter. All you need is to be able to overcome it's inertia. A squadron of Star Furies or prehaps two White Stars should be able to do that.

Except they couldn't get it through the jump gate... B5 was bigger than the Ancient Vorlon Gate and they had to pull the jump gate out to maximum width to get that through...

 

[James McMurray]

Cool. My memory is as crappy as I though it was.

B5 was very close to the planet. If you're in visual range of the planet, you're in visual range of the station.

 

[Ateth Istarlin]

Not really.

jms rationalised it simply as the fact that the emphasis had shifted away from the Epsilon system with the growth of the Interstellar Alliance. The only reason to visit B5 was to go see B5, and as it had been passed back to Earth Alliance control, they no longer had the budget to run it, but you can't just leave such a station powered down unoccupied as sure as hell someone dodgy would move in (raiders or whatever...).

If it were viable for someone to move in legitimately, then the EA would probably still be operating the base.

It was too big to relocate so demolition was the only viable option after striping reusable systems from it.

I get all that, but are you telling me that non of the other governments could have found a use for this station?
Remember - It wasn't just the EA that paid for it, many of the other races helped with the cost as well!
Also, wouldn't it make sense for the IA to take over if the EA couldn't afford it? - surely both IA Intelligence & the Rangers would have a vested interest in keeping B5 going? - after all, you couldn't expect spies & informants to travel to Mimbar to make their reports or pass on info! :?